Today in the Bloggernacle: The power of 4 books of scripture, plus a retweet request

Scripture power: “A Latter-day Saint friend of mine once invited an evangelical coworker to church. The coworker found much that was familiar in the LDS service: hymn singing, an informal sermon style, robust fellowshipping and scripture-driven Sunday school. But then came the moment when the Sunday school teacher, after beginning with Genesis, said, 'Let’s now turn to the Book of Moses' and began reading: 'The presence of God withdrew from Moses . . . and he said unto himself: Now, for this cause I know that man is nothing, which thing I never had supposed.’ I am told that the visitor reflexively searched through his Bible before he realized that he’d never heard of such a book, though of course the story of the burning bush was familiar. And while he didn’t mind the sentiments expressed in the words he’d heard, he knew that they were not in his Bible.” So begins this amazing post by Mormon historian Kathleen Flake, who does a masterful job describing Mormons’ four books of scripture for The Christian Century in “The Bible Plus.” Pass on to anyone who is curious about how Mormons approach their scriptures and how it jives with the rest of the Christian world.

Retweet request: For the first time that I’ve seen, I noticed a request to retweet an @ldschurch tweet: “The LDS Church ‏@ldschurchGroundbreaking for the Tijuana Mexico Temple will be on Aug. 18, 2012. http://bit.ly/MUZ64k. Please ReTweet.” Cool.

Patriarchal blessings: Ardis E. Parshall has once again outlined the process for “Requesting Copies of Patriarchal Blessings” since, as she explains, it “has changed since I last wrote about it a few years ago. Here’s the current process, much easier for you at a distance because it can now be done via email.” Click in to learn how!

FHE lesson: What if we had only one crayon in which to color a picture? This question can prompt a fascinating discussion about the importance of “Celebrating Our Differences,” which is the theme of this “FHE Lesson Plan about the beauty of our differences and the love God has for all.” Click in to get the full outline, including printables!

Beehive welcomes: These darling “Beehive Welcome Gift” printables would be so fun to give to the newest Young Women coming into the program. And as a bonus, there are also bee-themed birthday and note cards to be used for any situation — just bee-cause! Cute!

Emily W. Jensen updates "Today in the Bloggernacle" on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, presenting the best from the world of LDS-oriented blog sites. Her extended "Bloggernacle Back Bench" appears on Tuesdays. Email: ejensen@desnews.com